Family Matters
by DarkAngel1227
Summary: A powerless Raven returns to only place she's ever called home. Where she finds out that she's not as alone as she thinks. Charles may still be alive.
1. Home Again

**Family Matters**

Summary: A powerless Raven returns to only place she's ever called home. Where she finds out that she's not as alone as she thinks. Charles may still be alive.

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><p>"Other things may change us, but we start and end with family" - Anthonay Brandt<p>

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><p>Ch 1: Home Again<p>

It was a large room with a high angled ceiling; a beautiful brick fireplace sits unused in the far corner. An oriental rug sits on the floor in front of it. Beyond the rug, there are two old-fashioned red arm chairs between them was a table with an unfinished chess game. An oak bookcase filled with books on biology and genetics stood tall next the massive four poster cherry wood bed.

She smiled it was the room of an old man and wasn't very different from the room he had when he was a boy. She walked over and slid her hand along his dresser passing a lamp with a statue of a DNA strand next to it. She paused when she sees it, a picture she picked it up and stared at it, smiling at the memory of happier times. The two young smiling faces of children are suddenly replaced by her own reflection, her shoulder length black hair, blue eyes and a face that wasn't hers. The mask that she once hid behind, the face that disgusted her now because it wasn't real, it wasn't hers.

"What are you doing here?" A deep voice growled into her ear as she felt the cold tip of a metal against the back of her neck, startled she dropped the picture and the glass shattered as it hits the ground. She moved to throw him which was stupid she had no powers. She had been fighting for so long it was reflex to attack.

Logan easily flipped her around, she continued to fight him, she was trained but he was stronger. He pushed her and they crashed on to the bed. The bed she's fallen asleep on many times when she was little. It was funny how used to having someone else to turn she had gotten in a short amount of time. She had been living on her own for two years before she wandered into in this house. His house was huge and more often than not it was just the two of them and even though her room was across the hall she felt alone. So she'd walk into his room and crawl into his bed and she'd fall asleep curled against him.

Wolverine's other two claws slid out and touched her neck while his hand held the collar of her shirt. "That was the issue then, you like to be on top" she said to him with a sly smile. She felt the pressure of his claws just above her skin, a little more would be all it took to pierce it.

Logan glared at her and looked down at the photograph that fell out of her hand. The splintered glass made a web over the picture but it was still intact, it was a picture of a young boy with a mop of brown hair; he supposed it was a young Professor Xavier. He was smiling with his arm around a young blond girl who was also smiling at the camera. He could never really imagine the Professor being a child; he would believe the Professor was born an old man. He turned his attention back to Mystique "Since I'm in a good mood, I'll ask again. What are you doing here?"

She kept her eyes locked on to his and pressed her hips against him and smiled she remembered the way his lips felt, the way his hardened muscles felt against hers. He thought she was that demented Jean Gray but still he was a good kisser. She sighed he still wasn't interested. "I'm not here to hurt anyone; I couldn't even if I wanted to. I'm human" Logan still glaring at her raised his eye brow. "I got injected by the gene suppressor, I've lost my powers"

"That still doesn't answer my question?" Logan snarled not caring. This woman had caused as many problems as Magneto.

Raven closed her eyes. "I'm here for him" she said to Logan, her eyes going to the broken picture on the floor.

There was sadness evident in her voice but he couldn't trust her. "Him, you didn't even know him"

"Actually she knew him long before any of us, Logan" Another deep male voice said from behind them. He padded into the room and looked at her. "She's his sister"

Logan tilted his head to make sure he heard correctly then turned to look at Beast. "His sister?" Logan repeated.

"Hello Hank" Raven greeted the blue Beast.

Hank padded over and with his furred paw picked up the photograph. "Yes, the girl in this picture is her" he told Logan handing him the picture.

Logan took it while still holding his claws against her throat. He studied the picture and stares down at her. Mystique copied the smile the young girl is making. Even without her shape shifting abilities she can still mimic people perfectly. "Impossible he never mentioned you were his sister"

"Did you ask?" Raven said to him. "You wanted to know your past did you ever ask Charles about his?" She knew he didn't, none of them did. Charles was all about helping everyone else over himself. "It's the same with all men; they'll stare, think lewd thoughts, shag you and never get your first name let alone the last." She said to him. "Raven Xavier" she said, holding out her hand to him in the small space he had left between them. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Wolverine climbed off of her and stood up, unable to take his eyes from the picture. They were both smiling brightly; the boys arm was secured tightly around her shoulder, protecting her. The girl was leaning against his arm knowing she was safe. He didn't remember the Professor ever smiling like he was in the picture. "You think he would've said something"

"Why would he, I've disappointed him the most. I was his oldest friend, his family and his very first student and I betrayed him." Logan just kept looking at the picture then back at her. She pulled herself into a sitting position and looked at the two of them.

"Why are you here, Raven?" this time it was Hank who asked.

"She's human" Logan replied. Hank looked at her, brows furrowed.

"I didn't want it, you know that." She told him. "Mutant…and proud" she said with a smile that gets her a little smile from Hank and a confused look from Logan. "The soldiers they were aiming for Erik…I jumped in front…"

"You took it for him" Hank finished.

"Yes, and afterwards he looked at me like I disgusted him because I was now human, normal. He left and didn't look back" she told them. She didn't know why she would've expected more from him, but she did. She had been by his side for years, helping him, killing for him. Then he just left, she wondered now if that's how Charles felt when she left him that day on the beach. After everything they've been through, everything they've done it was that easy to walk away. She still believed that the humans would never truly accept them it was exactly like he had written in his thesis the dominant species will eventually push the weaker one out of the way into extinction. Why would we need to cohabitate with them when we could rule them? "They've suppressed my abilities but I am not one of them"

"I don't trust you" Logan told her point blank.

She laughed. "I know. But this is the only place I've ever called home"

"We can't let her stay here" he said turning to face Hank.

Hank looked over at the woman sitting on the edge of the bed, without her abilities she couldn't hide behind her mask and when he looked into her eyes he saw the young girl he met that day in his lab. The young girl that looked at him and told him he was amazing. He knew what she'd done and he was disappointed as well. However if Charles were here he wouldn't push her away, he would take her in. "We can't let you wander around the mansion" he said her. "I don't trust you for that, we do have somewhere we can put you for now" Raven appreciated that Hank was speaking to her when telling her he was going to lock her up. Raven nodded her head in understanding, got up from the bed and followed them.

Tbc…


	2. The Ties that Bind Us

**Family Matters**

Summary: A powerless Raven returns to only place she's ever called home. Where she finds out that she's not as alone as she thinks. Charles may still be alive.

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><p>"Other things may change us, but we start and end with family" - Anthonay Brandt<p>

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><p>Ch 2. The Ties that Bind Us<p>

Logan watched her on the monitors. The room she was in was a new addition to the mansion, they had all argued about it for weeks but it was necessary. The Professor may have trusted that everyone would find the right path, but some weren't just a danger to others they were a danger to themselves. And after what happened with Jean, he couldn't allow that to happen again. This room was just a safety precaution. It had chains but Hank had told him they wouldn't be using them. He still thought they should. She may not have her powers but she was still highly trained and dangerous.

He expected her to studying the room so she could plan an escape route. But all she did was get on the bed, curl up and appeared to be asleep. He didn't know what to make of her, he never did. She was exactly what her name implied. She could be anyone at any time; she even turned herself into him. He thought he had killed her once and that affected him more than he thought it should.

"Why didn't you say anything?" He asked Beast when he returned to the room.

"It wasn't my place" Beast replied. "Here" he said holding out a picture to Wolverine. "This was taken in 1962 after Charles and Erik had brought us all together."

Logan's eyes scanned the picture looking at the faces of the people in it. They were standing in front of a building there were six men and three women. "That's Erik" Hank said pointing to the tall stoic man dressed in black. He was only slightly older than the rest of the people in the picture. "That's me" Hank says pointing to a tall gangly looking boy with glasses. Logan looked at the blue beast with one eyebrow raised and a smile. He followed young Hank's eyes to see a blonde girl dressed in a tight black dress with boots that came to her knees. "That's Raven" Even in the picture he could see that Hank was enamored with the girl. However the girl's eyes weren't looking back at him but at the young man that had his arms around her shoulders. They were smiling at each other as if sharing a secret only they knew. "And that's the professor" Logan said before Hank could speak.

"She was a different girl back then" He said with an almost wistful tone as he watched her on the screens.

After she heard the mechanics of the door locking Raven walked over to the bed in the corner and lay down. She was used to getting what she wanted but the one thing she wanted most was for Charles to give up his hope in humanity and join them, she knew Erik wanted that too. The three of them together would've been unstoppable. But he wouldn't give up his hope that humanity would accept them no matter how many times they let him down.

If you asked her to name people she cared about she could only name a few. One she devoted her life to and he abandoned her when she needed him most, one she left behind because she didn't share the same views and now he was gone. And there was one other but he didn't even know she existed and it was better that way. She knew it was risk coming here, Wolverine could've killed her after all he almost did before and he had every reason to want her dead. But she wanted to be somewhere familiar, somewhere she felt safe. But without him here it didn't feel familiar, it felt empty. Without him it was just a place. She had heard once when she was younger that a home is only as good as the people you know in it and she didn't know anyone here anymore. She turned to her side and shut her eyes.

"_Raven" She heard his voice call her. "Are you asleep?" He asked lightly knocking again._

"_No" she replied. She still had trouble sleeping, this house was too quiet. She was used to hearing noises, whether it was the other children in the orphanage whispering and giggling or the sounds of the streets, hacking and coughing, the engines of automobiles, the stench of alcohol stanched men and other sounds that at that time her seven year old self shouldn't haven't heard, the sounds that made her have to sleep lightly in case they came for her. Although maybe she should've done something because they probably would've run away from screaming from a blue skinned child, but she was always too scared to find out. Charles told her she could stay but she was always worried that he would wake up one day and tell her to leave. "Come in" she told him as she rolled over and sat up._

"_I am deeply sorry if I've woken you" He said. She smiled at the way he always talked so proper, like an adult instead of the twelve years old he was._

"_I wasn't asleep" She told him pulling the blanket up covering her. She still wasn't used to the fact that he wasn't revolted by the sight of her. He was the first person that wasn't scared of her, the first person she's ever had to really talk too._

"_You don't have to hide from me Raven" He told her. "Here in this house you are safe" She nods. He laughed. "I almost forgot the reason I'm came here" He reached into the pocket of striped pajamas and pulled out a wooden box and handed it to her. She just stared at it, so he held it closer to her. "It's for you" She hesitantly took it from his hands and just looked at it. "You do need to open it so you can see what's inside"_

_She looked at the box as if it was going to blow up in her face. "It's not going to explode, it's just a box" She glanced up at him. "Sorry, it's a habit. It's just I really want you to open it." She placed her hand on top and slowly lifted the lid. Inside on a white cloth laid a key with a chain attached to it. She pulled it out and lets it dangle from her fingertips._"_It's a key" he told her._

"_I know, a key to what?" she asked._

_Charles laughed. "A key to the house" he answered. "This is your house now too"_

"_You're giving me a key to your house?" she asks still in shock no one had ever given her anything before and nothing as important as what Charles had just given her._

"_Our house" he corrects her_

_She lets the key fall into her palm. "Our house" she repeated barely above a whisper._

"_This will always be your home, Raven"_

Raven smileed thinking of the promises of young children before they grow up and realize that promises of forever are hard to keep. Days turned into months and before she knew it forty years had passed. And in that time she stopped going with Erik to see him on the missions where they shared a common goal, she supposed it was the little sister in her that couldn't bear to see the disappointment in his face. So much had happened, so much had changed she didn't think she could ever go back. Now here she was but it was too late. He wasn't invincible, he wasn't immortal she always expected him to be around, she felt lost without him. She wiped the tears from her eyes.

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><p>"Moira" she heard him call her name in her head. She excused herself from her colleagues and walked down the hallway towards his room. She was shocked by the huge smile he had on his face or rather the smile of the patient whose mind he inhabited. "Charles?"<p>

"She's come home" he said. He wasn't disappointed in her when he told her to go with Erik. He kept his promise. He didn't have to read her mind to know that's what she wanted. He saw it in her eyes from the night before. How often in life that we are blind to what is right in front of us. He was telling her that the humans would accept them however he made her hide behind a mask of normalcy afraid of what others would think. How would he expect her to believe society would accept them if he made her afraid to accept herself? He wasn't disappointed in her, he was disappointed in himself. He wished so many times that he could take back telling her she had a cosmetic problem. He couldn't believe how dense and naive he had been back then. Erik had succeeded where he had failed her.

Moira raised her eyebrows waiting for him to explain further. He was lost in his own thoughts so she waited patiently for him to continue.

"Raven" he replied softly. He often scanned the mansion to see how things were going. With Ororo in charge things were running smoothly, like he expected. Then he felt her presence, he felt her anguish, her heartache, her loss. He had to stop himself from reading her mind; after everything that's happened he still wanted to know what was wrong; he wanted to know how to make it better.

"Raven?" Moira asked, surprised to hear him say her name. She hadn't gone by Raven in a long time. "Charles" she said and it's all she needs to say he could after all read her mind and know what she's thinking. Xavier just looks at her through someone elses eyes.

"Moira, my dear, years may have separated us, viewpoints may have divided us but I've never stopped being her brother"

Tbc…


	3. Freeing the Mind

**Family Matters**

Summary: A powerless Raven returns to only place she's ever called home. Where she finds out that she's not as alone as she thinks. Charles may still be alive.

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><p>"Other things may change us, but we start and end with family" - Anthonay Brandt<p>

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><p>Ch 3. Freeing the Mind.<p>

She walked down the street wearing a tank top and the shortest shorts she could find. No one paid her any mind because New York was a sauna today. The weatherman said it was hundred degrees but with the humidity it felt like a hundred and twenty. Not that the heat would've stopped her from showing of her skin, skin that she wasn't afraid of anymore. People still probably thought she was a freak when she wanted to shake everyone's hands all the time. Just the simplest brush of contact sent tingles down her spine. She loved being able to walk around without gloves and not have to worry about killing anyone.

She knew with her power she was more helpful then she was now and it did save her life more than once. And it wasn't that she was ashamed of being a mutant; she just wanted to know what it felt like to be held without layers of clothing in-between, to be touched. Maybe that was selfish of her but everyone takes the simplest things for granted, human contact, skin to skin even in something as simple as a handshake.

She turned the corner towards Central Park and was nearly flattened by a teenager in a bright yell jacket running down the street, she looked behind the girl and saw that she was being chased by cops? No she looked closer and saw that they were heavily armed men dressed in black. The girl spun around and shot blinding red lights from her hands at the men. The men stop to cover their faces while she backed herself against the wall; she was powerless and could only watch the young mutant try to escape. Were they still trying to round up mutants and give them the cure? She took it because she wanted too but they should have the right to chose. Marie pulls out her cell phone and dials his number.

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><p>The memory of happier times, simpler times etched into her mind. She still thought about what her life would've been like had she never met Charles Xavier. And what her life would've been like had she stayed with him. Would her life have taken the same course?<p>

"They found you" she said without turning around. She wiped the tears from her eyes she couldn't face him until her face was a mask again.

"Who did?" Wolverine answered surprised that she knew he was there. Hank told him that he thought that the Professor's protectiveness of Jean, his trust in her was to try and make up for the mistakes he made with Raven. He never gave up his hope that Jean would find her way back and maybe he thought Raven would too.

His scent of testosterone and musk was unforgettable, she'd recognize it anywhere. "Charles and Erik. In the sixties." She rolled over and faced him. He was standing by the bars of her room. "I believe… you told them to go fuck themselves"

"That sounds like me" he said as he looked through the bars at the women lounging seductively on the bed. If it was the sixties he really wasn't paying attention to much of anything. He just wanted to be left alone.

"Who knows had you gone with them we would've met under different circumstances" she said with a smile as she rose from the bed. She prided herself on being able to bed any one she wanted; male, female; after all she was the perfect fantasy, but not him. And that hurt her ego just a little.

"When you were the young innocent girl" he said with an eyebrow raised.

"I was young, but hardly as innocent as everyone thought, including my brother" she replied with a smile.

"I don't doubt that" Logan agreed with her. With that one picture he saw of her, all of the men were glancing at her, even Magneto. In spite of himself he was fascinated with the blue shape shifter even more now knowing she was the professor's sister. It would've been interesting to know her before she became Mystique. When he thought he had killed her in that brief moment when his eyes locked with hers he saw that like him her eyes were older than her face.

His cell phone rings. "Rogue?" He asked when after he saw her name appear on the screen. "Marie, calm down I can't understand you" he yelled into the tiny device. "What? Ok, we're on our way?"

"I can help" Raven said after he hung up the phone. Rogue was screaming so she heard every word. None of them needed to be cured, so she wasn't going to let the humans force the cure on anyone. "You're dealing with armed trained men and how many of your students are as trained in hand to hand combat as me?"

Logan looked at her and knew she's right. She was a fast and efficient fighter, she would've have given him trouble when he was still fighting in the cages. With all the losses they've suffered they only had untrained young teenagers to help them. He growled and punched in the code to unlock the door. They run up the stairs as he shouted for Beast and Storm.

They come running to meet him. Storm looked at the dark haired woman. "Mystique?" Storm askesd not hiding the disdain in her voice. "What is she doing here?"

"Rogue called she's in New York there's some men trying to capture a young mutant" he told both of them. He didn't have time to explain Mystique's presence right now. "She's coming with us"

"Since when did we start trusting her?" Storm asked

"We don't but right now we don't have a choice, there's a young girl that needs our help, Ororo" Beast said putting his hands on her shoulders. Storm glanced at Raven then nodded her head. They run down the stairs to the hanger. Bobby and Kitty are already there and suited up. "We over heard you, we're ready to help" Bobby told them.

Raven sat in the chair adjusting the collar of the suit they gave her. She didn't understand the point of wearing this if it was going to feel like a second skin, they might as well not wear anything at all. The suits Hank had made them before were at least a little more breathable. Or she just wasn't used to being covered from neck to toe in clothing. She just shrugged her shoulders as they all turn to look at her as her suit squeaks as she continues to move it around. Beast just sighed as the jet shoots upwards.

"How does it feel to not have powers?" Bobby asked from the seat next to her.

Raven smiled, the boy was trying to sound tough probably trying to impress the girl. "Mundane" Raven replied and looked over at him.

"Mundane" he repeated.

"It means common, ordinary, boring"

"I know what it means"

"You're smarter than you look" she replied and turned away from him. She sighed and wondered what Charles would think if he saw her wearing the X-men suit once again. Erik needed his helmet to keep Charles out of his mind, she didn't. Charles kept his promise of never reading her mind even when it could've helped them maybe was too afraid to find out what she was thinking.

Beast landed Blackbird just inside Central Park. The team runs down the ramp, they had spotted the men from above. Without the professor they had to rely on heat sensor technology to find the girl and the men. They split up into two's to find both Rogue and the girl.

Wolverine used his senses while Mystique watched the dots moving around on the screen. It wasn't long before they found them. The girl was smart enough to lose herself among the vastness of Central Park. Wolverine's claws slid out and Mystique moved in front him and held his arms at his sides. She turned, winked and walked towards the Government thugs.

"Excuse me, Mr. Officer" she said in a southern accent. Both men turn towards her and she smiled and sashayed over to them. They were momentarily confused until they saw her outfit but that was enough for her. One of the men raised his gun she grabbed the barrel twisting down and then ramming it upwards slamming it into the man's face, he crashed to the ground. Wolverine moved quickly and took out the second man. The commotion had brought them more attention and they heard footsteps running towards them.

Mystique moved her head side to side and cracked her neck; she'd been itching for a fight. She jumped behind a tree as about five men ran into the clearing. That was the plan they had come up with Wolverine would take care of the first wave and she'd handle the stragglers. Wolverine was smiling at them and they opened fire, she heard the clanging sounds as he easily deflected their bullets with his claws.

She pretended to be preoccupied with watching Wolverine so the man behind her thought he was sneaking up on her, while another was coming at her from the front. He moved forward and she quickly turned grabbed his wrist, twisted it and used his momentum to fling him into the man in front they collide with sticky slap like a boxer's fist against a frozen caucus.

"Freeze" she heard from behind her three more had joined the fun. A hand clamped down on her shoulder. Without even glancing behind her, she snapped her elbow into the center of his face, hearing the crack of his nose as he fell and collapsed. The other two were advancing on her but before they could react her right leg was already a blur of motion, sweeping through air in a roundhouse kick that snapped the gun out of their hands. Still in midair she shifted her position and aimed her heels into their stomachs. Two men let out a simultaneous groan and Raven used their muscles and organs as a trampoline to launch herself into a somersault past them.

Wolverine had taken care of his group of men easily so he turned to take care of hers, but was impressed with what he was seeing, each kick and jab, each swivel of her hips was taking them down. Even without her powers she was holding her own.

They heard a scream and they both took off running in the direction it came from. They reach another clearing and see Rogue and the girl being dragged towards a van. Wolverine sprints towards them slashing through the men in his way. He reaches the girls and launches himself in the air at them and his claws sink into their Kevlar vests. Rogue and the girl are pushed to the ground but otherwise unhurt. He radios in to Beast, Storm, Iceman and Shadowcat that he found them. He motioned his head towards Raven who had joined him and she nodded while he goes to take care of the rest of the men.

"When I tell you to, fall to the ground" She whispered to them. "Now" she shouted as she twisted around and aims a jump kick to the man that was coming behind them the force of her kick made a bloody gash across the man's face right next to his nose. He recovered quicker then she thought he would and swings the butt of his gun towards her she only has time to move enough to not get the full brunt of the force as it hits the side of her face. She fell but caught herself with her hands her eyes were spinning dizzyingly out of control from the hit. Through her blurred vision she saw three more of them advancing towards them. They hold their guns ready to fire at both teenagers. Her mind snaps into focus she instinctively reacts by swinging her leg out and sends them toppling to the ground. She pushes all the power into her back, shoots upwards and lands on her feet, her head was still spinning as she tries to hold her balance. She looks at the men and just like he taught her all those years ago she pushes her mind into a state of pure concentration and lets the adrenaline cascade through her body stripping her body of pain and placed her hands up in a combat stance.

She whipped her hand out and grabbed the barrel of the first gun bringing it towards her and brought her knee up to connect with his groin. He doubled over groaning, then she brought his gun down hard against the back of his head and collapsed on the ground. The other two advance towards her and she throws an elbow deep into one of their stomachs cracking his ribs and then spun into a roundhouse kick that connected with the other's face. Her adrenaline spurt was quickly draining and she saw more coming towards her.

She looked up when she heard the engines of the jet; Beast lands it in front of them. Raven urges the girls to go to it as she turned around to see how Wolverine was doing. The gash on her head was making her dizzy and the blood pouring in her eyes was blurring her vision. Suddenly a gust of wind nearly knocks her over she felt hands grab her arms she's too weak to fight but tries anyway.

"Mystique it's us" a young boy's voice said in her ear. She looked through her clouded vision and saw it was Bobby on one side and his girlfriend on the other. They bring her inside the jet and laid her down on one of the seats; she saw a tornado forming in the park. Storm was standing next to her with her white eyes staring at the sky. They wait while Wolverine pushed his way through the wind, Raven sees the cuts and bullet holes healing as he makes his way towards the jet. The jet blasts off. She loses consciousness just as the doors start closing.

Tbc…


	4. Our Wanderings to Guide

**Family Matters**

Summary: A powerless Raven returns to only place she's ever called home. Where she finds out that she's not as alone as she thinks. Charles may still be alive.

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><p>"Other things may change us, but we start and end with family" - Anthonay Brandt<p>

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><p>Chapter 4<p>

Raven opened her eyes slowly; the bright lights shoced her into awareness. She moved to sit up and fell back down when the room startd spinning in dangerous circles. She reached up and felt the bandage; the pain that shoots through her body like an electrical shock snaps her mind into focus as she remembered what happened. She sat up slowly this time, closed her eyes, and lets her feet dangle off the side of the bed until the pain subsides.

Cellular regeneration is what Hank had called it; it was what slowed down her aging process, it also enabled her to heal, while it wasn't as fast as Wolverines it kept her from feeling pain for very long. Without it she felt a persistent throbbing in her head and she didn't like it.

"You're supposed to be resting" a rough voice said from across the room starling her. She looked up to see Wolverine standing by the door.

"Were you worried about me?" she asked with a sly smile then grabbed her head in pain. Even smiling hurt, how did regular people manage when they got hurt?

"Hank had to go do something he told me to stay here and make sure you don't get up" He hated that he felt the pull on his heart when she cried out in pain. She knew the effect she had on men and probably women too and she could be anyone's perfect fantasy. He wasn't interested in fantasies but somehow she had managed to get to him.

"I was never one for resting." Raven replied as one fool slowly touched the cool linoleum floor then the other. She waited for the room stop spinning before she took another step. Before she realized what happened Wolverine is at her side and she was leaning against his chest. She glanced up at him; she hated feeling so weak, so ordinary.

She felt his smooth palm across her stomach; her shirt had risen up exposing her scars, the scars he had given her. They both look down at them. "You're the only that's ever left a mark" That was true, she'd been cut before but they always healed. She had never gotten a scar before. She supposed it was the adamantium in his claws.

When he stared into her blue eyes he saw someone young in heart but old in spirit. Someone like him. Is that why he was drawn to her? He wanted to know her and he hated himself for it. He grinded his teeth and tried to push back his feelings. He lookd down at her scars, he remembered that fight well, her skills were far beyond most people he's fought and if he thought honestly he may have been losing until she climbed up a pipe and disappeared. "Who taught you to fight like that?" He asked helping her stand up.

"Impressed" she said and smiled gripping the bed to steady herself so she wouldn't fall again, Wolverine just stared at her, she sighed and said "A teleporter"

"Teleporter" he repeated.

"Have you ever fought one of them? You have to constantly be aware of your surroundings; they can come at you from any direction at any time. You always have to be prepared for the next move" She told him. Azazel was a tough and sometimes cruel teacher, he never took it easy on her, after her first lesson she was so battered and bruised that her skin would've been blue whether she was in her real form or not.

To most he was always cold and aloof but that wasn't the case, he could be kind and surprisingly romantic when he wanted too. It was both sides that drew her to him, that excited her. She never would've thought he felt the same. Until one day when they were sparring, she was standing in the middle of the room with her eyes closed. He came at her from behind she managed to grab him mid bounce (it's what she liked to call it, he hated it and that just made her use it more) and straddled him as she pinned him to the ground with her hand in a vice grip around his throat. He slapped his palm against the mat signaling his defeat. She climbed off of him smiling, she was getting good, her wins were matching his now. She turned her back to him then she felt his hand grab her wrist she turned ready to attack but before she could even do anything in one swift motion he pulled her up against his body and crushed his mouth to were no thoughts going through her mind, only sensations sent in short bursts to her brain. The heat of his body, the strength of his arms around her, the smoothness of his hair as she ran her fingers through it pulling his head toward her, the demand of his lips and tongue and teeth matching her own urgency, his breath mingling with hers, the moan that escaped the back of his throat, echoing hers, the sudden, unexpected aching rush of want and need. He lifted her and she wrapped her legs around his waist, she felt herself being propelled backwards until her back hits the softness of a mattress. She gazed up at him through hooded lids and saw his dark eyes filled with desire. In her natural form no one had ever looked at her like he had. When they lay together afterwards her blue skin was a striking contrast against the red of his. Fire and Ice.

"Do you believe it?" she asked him suddenly. "Do you believe the humans will accept us with open arms?" With both hands holding on to the bed she awaits his reply. He is about to when they both look at the door at the sound of footsteps and whispering coming towards them.

"That was Mystique?" they hear Rogue asking. "Why did she save us? Why is she here?"  
>"She's the Professor's sister" they hear Iceman tell them.<br>"I don't believe that, he would've mentioned that to me" said Storms disapproving tone.

Raven lets out a little laugh. She did love causing confusion among people, it was her specialty. She didn't really know what she expected to find by coming back here. With Charles gone there was nothing here for her.

Storm bursts through the doors followed by Iceman, Rogue, ShadowCat and the girl they saved. "I don't know what story you are telling people…"

"Her story is quite true Ororo" Beast said interrupting her from the doorway. "Raven is Charles' sister"

"Adopted sister" Raven said looking at Rogue then at Storm. "My life began the day I met him" she started. "I was ten years old. I had been living on the streets for two years when I came upon this house, I was starving and I figured a house this large would have loads of food. Charles caught me stealing from his kitchen and he knew, he knew what I was and he didn't run screaming. He was thrilled to find someone like him, someone who was different." She paused. "So he convinced his mother and his step-father that they adopted a little blond girl. And for the longest time it was just the two of us against the world." She told them with a sad smile.

A loud flash of blue smoke startled all of them, Nightcrawler appeared in the room. "I am vety zorry to inzerrupt" he said bowing his head slightly.

Logan noticed that Raven's reaction to Nightcrawler was different than everyone else's; sure he startled her when he first appeared but now she was trying her hardest to not look directly at him and her heartbeat had not slowed down. She was afraid, but not of him of something else.

"There ez a women at ze door" he said facing Storm. "She zays 'er name is Moria MacTaggert"

"Moira" Raven said in shock. "You still talk to Agent MacTaggert?"

"It's Dr. MacTaggert now, she's a geneticist. She works in Scotland" Hank said to her. "And she usually calls before showing up" He turned to leave. Raven felt almost compelled to follow Hank to see why Moira was here.

"Moira" Hank greeted the older woman with a hug.

"Hello Hank" Moria replied looking past him to see Mystique walking towards them. Her appearance was a bit shocking, her walk was unsteady and she had a bandage around her head. Maybe Charles had a right to be worried. In all her years of knowing the shapeshifter she had never seen her injured. Charles told her she could heal quickly.

"It is good to see you Moira, but I have to ask why you are here?" Hank asked her. "Should we go somewhere more private to talk?"

"Actually, I'm here to see Raven"

"Raven?" Hank asked to be sure.

"Yes"

Raven looked at the older woman. She looked good for her age. "Me?" Raven asked. "What could we possibly talk about?" She hadn't talked to this woman in thirty or maybe thirty five years.

"Would it be alright if we talked in private?" Moira asked the rest of them, Charles had given her explicit instructions to only let Raven know that he was alive.

Hank gave Moira a curious glance, and then nodded. "You may use the study" He replied.

Raven followed Moria, she too was curious as to why the former CIA agent wanted to talk her alone. They barely spoke when Moira joined them in their fight against Shaw and she was already a full member of the brotherhood when she and Charles briefly dated. Although Raven had to admit they were not actually that different, when they first met they were both young and inexperienced with no idea what they were doing. And that day on the beach forever changed who they were and what they would become.

Moira motioned for Raven to have a seat. She looked at the woman across from her, so different than the young girl she met all those years ago. "I'm here on behalf of Charles"

"Charles is alive?"

Tbc


	5. All in a Golden Afternoon

**Family Matters**

Summary: A powerless Raven returns to only place she's ever called home. Where she finds out that she's not as alone as she thinks. Charles may still be alive.

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><p>"Other things may change us, but we start and end with family" - Anthonay Brandt<p>

* * *

><p>Ch 5 All in a Golden Afternoon<p>

Moira thought it would be easier if Charles just spoke in Raven's mind, but he told her that he promised Raven that he would never read her mind and he planned on keeping that promise. Even after all she had done he still refused to give up on her. "He is" she answered.

"How? I read the report; it said that…that woman destroyed him, that there was nothing left, that he was just…gone." She went to the CIA headquarters after Erik abandoned her, she knew it was childish but she was so angry that he could just leave her. She looked into his eyes and saw nothing not even the hint of regret. She gave her life to him and he threw her away like she was trash.

She told them what Erik was planning and where he'd be and for that information they locked her in a cell. And even without her powers she was still skilled escape artist. Almost the entire building was planning their attack on Magneto she practically had free roam of the place. She hacked into the computer to see what they had on her. That's when she saw the file named "Charles Xavier - Deceased" Her heart nearly stopped beating, her hand was shaking as she clicked on the folder and read its contents.

"Jean Gray destroyed him physically; she wasn't strong enough to destroy him mentally"

"What are you saying? He doesn't have a physical form?"

"He does, just not his own"

Raven let that sink into her mind, she closes her eyes and smiles as her eyes start tearing. "He's alive"

Moira had to admit she was a little shocked by Raven's reaction, it's not like she didn't remember that Raven and Charles were once very close. But over the decades she watched Raven became almost unrecognizable as the young girl she once was. However Charles was right it was hard to break the bonds of family. And whatever happened or will happen they would always be each other's family.

For the entire plane ride to Scotland she couldn't hide her nerves. It had been well over a decade since she looked into her brother's eyes. She'd seen him from afar but she never got too close, it was easier that way. She glances over at Logan in the seat next to her who was watching her knees bounce up down.

Unlike everyone else who gave them privacy, Logan listened to them talking. He claimed he couldn't help that he his ears worked better than the others. Raven just shook her head at that, but she was glad that he came with. Whenever she saw him she felt drawn to him and it wasn't only because he was a conquest she had yet to conquer, it was something else. He must've felt it too because ever since she walked into the mansion he hadn't left her side.

When they arrived at the hospital and were walking down the hallway she suddenly felt very weak, she stumbled over to the wall for support and Logan was there to ease her to a bench nearby.

"Is it your injury?" Moira asked. "I should take a look at it" She was told by Hank that she was hit with the butt of a semi-automatic machine gun and without her healing abilities she could have concussion.

"No" Raven replied. It was her head just not the bruising on the outside. It was guilt for everything she'd done, he had to know it was her that poisoned Cerebro, and she was there when they made it. She knew how it worked; she knew what it would take. The poison wouldn't have killed him; neither she nor Erik wanted that. They just needed him incapacitated so they could use Rogue to power the machine.

There were decisions in her life that were easier to make than others, but then there were those few that made her question if she was doing the right thing. She took a deep breath. She came home to find the part of her she lost, and a big part of what she lost was him. "I'm fine" she answered more strongly since they were both still hovering over her.

"We've all done things we regret or thought were for greater good" Logan said sitting down next to her. "Hell, I should be dead and you should be a seventy year old woman. Because we're not that's given us years more to screw up then everyone else."

Raven looked at him. "Well aren't you a wise old man" Logan gave her a small laugh. She looked back towards the ground. "I still don't believe."

"What?"

"That the humans will one day accept us"

"I don't think he expects you to believe it"

She sighed and looked up at Moira. "Which room is he in?"

"I can give you about an hour, before one of the nurses comes to check on him" Moira said when they reached his room. "To everyone else in the hospital Mr. Smith is a coma patient with no identity and no family that's come to claim him."

Raven nodded her head in understanding. Moira glanced at the door one last time, turned around and walked down the hallway. Raven looked to Logan who nodded and took a seat on the bench against the opposite wall. She looked back that the door, took another deep breath and knocked before pushing it open slightly.

She walked into the room and saw a brunette man that looked to be in his early forties leaning up against the pillows on the hospital bed.

He couldn't hide the smile on his face as she walked into the room. "Raven" he said and looked worriedly at the bandage on her head.

Her heart leapt in her chest as she sucked in her breath, it was his voice and it was a bit jarring coming out of the mouth of a much younger man that looked nothing like him. "Charles" she finally manages to say in a choked whisper.

"You don't have to stand all the way over there, I'm not going to bite" He said with a smile. She stood in the middle of room as if she was frozen in place.

"It's just strange seeing you look so…"

"Young" He offered.

"I was going to say hairy" she said with a laugh.

Charles laughed as he reached up touched his face. "I never did try to grow a beard did I?"

"You got a little scruffy when you were studying for exams." she replied smiling at him.

He did remember those days fondly, he'd lock himself in his room and Raven would make as much noise as she possibly could to make him open the door and go find her, because she tired of being bored and then tell him he needed a break or a shower or both.

She walked slowly over the bed, still looking like she was afraid of being so close to him. She was that shy little girl he just met, the one that was afraid to sleep in her own room and afraid to ask if she could stay in his so she'd stand outside his door until he invited her in.

She finally touched the mattress with the tips of her fingers. "You can sit down" He told her softly. "There's plenty of room" She nodded and gently lowered herself onto the mattress and bowed her head. He reached out and placed his hand on top of hers. When she looked up there are tears streaming down her face, Everything she kept hidden had risen to the surface, realizing she lost her powers, Erik looking at like she was disgusting, Charles' death and finding herself completely and utterly alone in the world.

Charles moved his body closer and pulled her towards him, he wrapped his arms around her and she cried into his chest. She wasn't Mystique the shape shifting right hand of Magneto; she was Raven his little sister.

Tbc…


	6. The Pool of Tears

**Family Matters**

Summary: A powerless Raven returns to only place she's ever called home. Where she finds out that she's not as alone as she thinks. Charles may still be alive.

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><p>"Other things may change us, but we start and end with family" - Anthonay Brandt<p>

* * *

><p>Ch 6 The Pool of Tears<p>

He held her as she cried. When they first met, she had pretended to be his mother; she had gotten everything perfect, the face, the clothes, and the voice. Her mistake was making her care. "Raven" he said softly. Until she walked into his life, he never truly knew what it meant to be a family.

She pulled herself away from his chest, unable to look him in the eyes. The tears threatened to fall again. She remembered everything they had been through together growing up, the good, the bad, but no matter what he was always by her side. She had hurt the man that had given her what she craved so much in those cold dark days in the orphanage, a place to belong, a family. "I…there's nothing I can say an apology seems meaningless after everything I've done."

He reached out and tentatively touched her cheek. "There is much we both need to apologize for" All these people that had come to him for help, for guidance; it was her he was really waiting for. That's why he never moved out of the mansion, despite the dangers of staying in one place caused. It was their home. He wanted it to be there when she did make her way back, even if he was long gone when that time came.

Her eyes widened in surprise. "You have done nothing that warrants an apology"

"I have" he replied. "Long ago. I tried to make you hide who you were"

"We were young and stupid back then; I don't blame you for that." She knew that now, more than ever.

He smiled at her as she leaned into his palm. "When I first saw you, I thought you were the most extraordinarily beautiful being I had ever seen. I should have told you that more. Instead I made you hide your beauty behind a mask"

Raven closed her eyes then looked at him. "Our lives would've been a lot harder if you didn't"

"Perhaps" he replied. "But you would've been you. And I'm sorry for making you think you had to hide." He hated himself for doing that, he had been selfish; he made her afraid to be who she was truly meant to be, because he was afraid of the consequences.

She looked into brown eyes that weren't his. For the first time she was seeing what other saw when she changed her form. She knew it was Charles but it was strange looking into different face. But the man he was underneath this façade was all that mattered to her. "I've caused you so much pain" she had to close her eyes and sniff back her tears. "I'm sorry" she said as tears streamed down her face.

Charles held her hand. "We flatter those we scarcely know, we please the fleeting guest."

Raven looked at him. "...And deal full many a thoughtless blow, to those who love us best" Charles smiled. "Ella Wheeler Wilcox" Raven says knowing he'd want to see if she remembered the poet's name.

"You did listen to my lessons"

"It was hard not to, you were quite insistent back then." She replied with a smile.

But even now she knew that had she gone home with him that day on the beach she would not have stayed with him forever. She needed to find out who she was without him. She needed to grow on her own and she had.

And from that she saw what she needed to see. She had been as naïve as she was when she was a teenager. She believed her and Erik were in it together. She had shared his bed on and off for over forty years. None of that mattered to him. "I was wrong." She said to Charles softly. "I thought Erik accepted me, but he only did when I was like him. You are the only one that's ever accepted me, for me."

Even after everything she's done to him and to others, it still angered him at that thought of anyone hurting her as he had. She was his little sister and he failed to protect her.

He knew that Raven and Erik had been more than just partners, he saw the way they looked at each other, depended on each other. He knew that trust for Erik did not come easy, he had it once, but it was Raven that had kept it. So for him to just discard her like she meant nothing to him was truly shocking. That just showed how far gone Erik truly was. The Erik he met long ago would not have just left her after she had saved his life. He would've been outraged at what had happened to her, he would've wanted revenge for her.

He welcomed anyone in home that wanted to be there; if Raven wanted a place again it was hers. "We cannot change what happened in the past, but we can change where we go from here" He told her holding her hand. "You're my oldest friend"

Raven smiled at him. "But no longer your only friend" she said. "And they don't like me very much, for good reason"

"It appears some of them have come around" Charles replied. His worry for her was coming through loud and clear and he wasn't even trying to listen.

Raven followed his gaze towards the door. "Logan" she said softly. She had almost forgotten he was outside the door. She turned to face him. "All these years, I've missed you. I may not have shown it but I did"

"And I've missed you" Charles replied as Raven fell into his arms again.

They both looked when they heard a knock at the door. Moira walked in the room. "I'm sorry, but they'll be here to check Mr. Smith's vitals soon" Raven pulled herself away and stood up. Moira glanced between and saw tears in both of their eyes. That was the problem with family, forgiveness comes way too easily.

Raven walked to the door then turned around. "Bye, Charles"

"Goodbye, Raven"

She walked outside, Logan stood from the bench when he saw her. "Well I suppose we should find someplace to stay" she said to him, she had found Charles again she didn't plan on leaving right away.

"Nonsense, you both can stay with me" Moira said joining them. "My home has plenty of room"

"You're sure" Raven askd. She could just as easily find an inn. She and Moira were never on the best of terms, even when they were younger, she probably thought of her as an annoyance more than anything else.

"Yes" Moira said trying to not let the shaking of her head show. The things she did for that man. She didn't trust Raven completely but she saw how much Charles wanted her here. She knew how important family was.

Raven's eyes widen as they drove up the large graveled driveway to Moira's house at the top of the hill. They walk across a bridge with a bubbling stream underneath it. It wasn't as big as Xavier Manor but it was impressive.

"I got the house in the divorce" Moira told her noticing her reaction.

Moira made them dinner and afterwards they sat in her living room. Raven walks around the room and notices the pictures on the immense stone fireplace. They were of a small boy and that same boy as he got older.

"That's my son" Moira told her bringing the tray into the room and placing it on the table. "Kevin" Raven nodded and smiles, then looked back at the pictures. _Son_, had things been different maybe she could've had a house like this and pictures like these.

"He's a mutant" Moira continued as she sips her tea.

Raven looked down then turned around to face her. "Was that shocking for you?" she asked, not wanting to think about him anymore. She'd seen him twice now and she was just a stranger to him or maybe the enemy. She didn't know if she should be relieved or angry at how he had turned out. But what would that matter, she was nothing to him. His life would've been different if she had raised him.

"Not for me as much my ex husband, he knew I worked with mutants. He just couldn't believe he created one, so he left us"

"I'm sorry to hear that" Raven said and she honestly was. She never had any hatred towards the humans that accepted them. She knew what side of that Moira was on.

"It's hard for some to comprehend evolution" Moira said sadly.

"Mutation took us from single-celled organisms to being the dominant form of reproductive life on this planet, Infinite forms of variation with each generation, all through mutation." Raven rattled off in a British accent.

Moira looked at her and a smile forms on her lips. Raven lookd at her and startd laughing, soon they are both laughing.

"Am I missing something? What was funny?" Logan asked watching the two women in a fit of hysterics.

"That was Charles' line" Raven answered trying to catch her breath.

"His line, for what?"

"To pick up women" Raven replieed with a smile.

Logan's brow furrow in confusion trying to comprehended what Raven said. "Women, the professor picked up women?"

"You only knew him as an old man, he was once young and dapper" Raven replied, smiling and remembering how annoyed she'd get when he used that line then forgetting he brought her along.

"I can't see that…I don't want to see that" Logan said trying to get the image out of his head. She was right he didn't remember meeting the professor as a young man when Raven said he had. All he saw was the professor he knew hitting on women and it was just too strange to think about it.

"At least you didn't have to hear it" Raven said. "The walls were very thin at our flat in Oxford"

"Please stop" Logan said. He wanted to learn more about the professor but not that. Both women just shook their heads and laughed.

It felt good to be laughing again; she hadn't done much of that since she lost her powers. She hadn't lost everything, her brother was still alive. She laughed again as she looks over at Logan cringing from the images of Charles as a womanizer no doubt running through his mind.

She stepped out of the shower and wrapped the soft bathrobe around her. She walked out into the luxurious guest room that Moira put her in. They had passed an Inn on the way here and she told her she was fine staying there, Moira insisted they stay with her.

She walked over to the window overlooking the loch. She saw another house in the distance but they were configured so that neither overlooked the other. So you had the feeling of being alone here on this hill to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the lake and the forest beyond.

It had been a long day, seeing Charles again, hearing his voice had flooded her mind with so many memories. Memories of different times and different places.

_With her back against the tree trunk she held him in her lap with both arms securely around his waist. His tail wrapped around her side securing himself to her. Up here she felt truly free and safe from all that would cause them harm. Up here they could swing and jump from tree to tree, hang upside down from them, this was their playground._

_Even at his young age his agility matched her own. He scared her once when they were high up in the trees and he fell, without even thinking she jumped after him and reached out and wrapped her arms around him, then he teleported them back to the same tree with a big smile on his face. Not even realizing he was ever in danger. Protecting was all she thought about._

_He shifted slightly in her arms he picked up one of her arms and held his hand to tiny hand to hers. His skin the same deep blue hue as hers, she brought her hand down and interlocked their fingers. He looked at her with such wonder and amazement and love._

_They both looked out over the canopy of endless trees. In the darkness they could just make out the tall buildings of the city. He always asked her when they could go to place with all the lights._

_She looked at him trying to hide the sadness in her eyes. She told him they must never go there, that, that place was dangerous to them. The people that live there are afraid of anything that's different._

"_Are we different?" he asked in his sweet little voice._

"_Yes, my baby boy, we are different" she answered. "We're better, stronger, faster. That is what they are afraid o…being replaced."_

She had left Erik and the brotherhood when she discovered she was pregnant, but she had not forgotten their mission. That she still believed and now had more reason than ever to make it come to pass. She didn't want him to have to hide, to be afraid because of what he looked like.

After everything happened her need became even stronger. She would make this world accept them or they would cower beneath them. Erik was the only one that could help her with that. But the Brotherhood was no place for a child. She couldn't have both, so she made a choice telling herself it was better this way for both of them.

Years later when they met again he asked her why she didn't change herself to look like everyone else. She felt the sadness weigh in her heart when she answered him. _"Because we shouldn't have too."_

His question hurt her more than anything else, she had failed him. She left him to change the world and she hadn't. She hears a knock on the door. "Come in" she replies. She knew who it was so she didn't even turn to look at him when he joined her by the window.

"Are you crying?" he asked with concern in his voice. He knew those weren't tears of pain, they were tears of sorrow.

Raven reached up and touched her face and felt the tears that had dried there, she hadn't even realized it. "I guess so" she replied. She supposed Logan was right because of their mutation they had more time than most to screw up. They were both still reckless and irrational because they could afford to be, they hadn't felt the pains of brittle bones, felt the wariness of old age. They had been young and fit for years longer than they should have. Even now she had lost her powers and retained the age her bodies aging process had brought her too. She remembered Hank excitedly telling her that when she's forty she'll have the body of a teenager, now she was over seventy and she still had the body of a thirty year old. She had seen so much and been through so much, yet she still acted like she was thirty year old.

"You're different than I expected" Logan told her. She was, now he was seeing the girl she used to be. The girl the professor called his sister. The girl Hank still may have feelings for.

"Well you never really got to know me" she said turning to face him.

"True" he replied looking into her eyes that matched the vivid blue of her natural skin color.

"And know you still don't know me, not when I look like this" she said looking down at herself. "This isn't me"

Logan eyes drifted over her face. "It never mattered what appearance you took, even with it you were always you."

She looks at him as a tear ran down her cheek. He reached out and with his thumb wiped it away. His hand lingered and tentatively cups the side of her face. His hands felt smooth against her skin. His freshly cleaned musky scent filled her senses making her entire body tingle with awareness.

Before she could think of anything to say, his lips were on hers. She reached up placing her hands about his neck threading her fingers in his hair, feeling dazed as the kiss grew more heated, more demanding. His hands went to her back and he crushed her against him. She whimpered, and he groaned. They walked backwards hitting the back of a wall.

He lifted her in his strong arms; she wraps her legs around his waist, as kisses grew deeper, hotter, harder, breathing heavier.

"Logan" she said breathlessly when they parted. He was still holding her up with his powerful arms. She unwrapped her legs from him and brought her feet back to the floor. She looks into his eyes and sees them dark with desire for her. Just for her, not the myriad of people she changed into see which he preferred.

He rests his forehead against hers as she tried to catch her breath. "What are we doing?" she asked him. This is what she wanted for a long time.

"I don't know" he replied. He didn't know what he was doing, it was just at that moment he wanted to kiss her and maybe if he was honest with himself he wanted too for a while.

They gaze into each other's eyes, she leaned forward and kissed him. Lips and tongues meet in a heated kiss, lingering until they were both breathless.

She pushed him backwards towards the bed; her robe fell away with one swift movement of his hands. Her own untuck his shirt and he helped her lift it over his head, her hands were at his pants, undoing his belt, unzipping his jeans pushing them and his boxers off of him impatiently. And they fell to the bed.

Tbc…


	7. Beneath Such Dreamy Weather

**Family Matters**

Summary: A powerless Raven returns to only place she's ever called home. Where she finds out that she's not as alone as she thinks. Charles may still be alive.

* * *

><p>"Other things may change us, but we start and end with family" - Anthonay Brandt<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Ch 7 Beneath Such Dreamy Weather<strong>

She slipped out of the bed, got dressed and walked down the hallway and into the living room. Her eyes were once again drawn to the pictures Moira had on her fireplace. Ever since she lost her powers she was realizing how alone she really was. She was surrounded by people, but none of them were really her family. None of them could truly replace Charles and deep down she knew that.

She thought of Erik and she remembered how much she enjoyed his deep and throaty laugh, mostly because it was a rare occurrence especially as the years passed.

It didn't take long to get Erik to cave to her whims after they had left Charles. He may have been able to manipulate metal with those strong hands of his, but he was still just a man. And men had needs. Those first few times were nothing short of amazing. He knew how to give her what she needed, wanted and craved. The darkness had always been there even when he was a young man but it hadn't taken control completely at that point. He could still have fun and enjoy life, those were the time she relished and missed. So much had happened in that brief window of happiness they shared to her and to him.

_She stretched out on the bed reveling__ in the feeling of their love making. She picked her head up and saw him standing by the window, he was breathtaking. His naked muscular form was illuminated by the moonlight. She had never been with someone that wanted her as she was and he would have her no other way. The boys she'd been with when she was younger, had they seen what she really looked would've run screaming or been cowering on the floor in fear. She slid of the bed and walked over to him and slid her arms around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder._

"_Look at them walking around not realizing how insignificant they are. They argue over race, religion, intelligence, they don't even know they are being replaced not by a superior race or religion, but a superior species" he stared out at the night sky then turned to her. "Now, where were we?" he said grabbing her shoulders, she jumped up and wrapped her legs around him and he carried her back to the bed. _

Then one day he told her that he wouldn't be sharing her bed anymore. She was angry at first but then she understood, they were fighting a war and his attention was needed elsewhere. But he still kept her at his side, shared his thoughts and fears with her. Frost may have been able to listen in but she was never the one he talked too.

Maybe she was naïve to think she meant something to him, that they were more than just partners. She shook those thoughts from her mind as she stared at the pictures in front of her.

She was looking at pictures of a smiling boy with a short brown hair and an equally has happy Moira holding him. Could her life have been pictures of a family growing up together? For awhile she imagined it could be, they were happy. She had found someone that accepted them and cared for them. Then reality set in and her mission became more important. Her eyes narrowed as she stared through the picture. None of them should have to hide.

"Raven?" She was startled when she heard Moira's voice from behind her.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you" Moira told the younger woman. She saw her body was tense and agitated. And wondering if she should be worried. Even a powerless Raven could still be dangerous, maybe she had made a mistake letting her stay here. Charles believed she was different and she trusted his instincts.

Raven closed her eyes and calmed her breathing. "It's fine…I was just lost in my thoughts I guess"

Moira nodded in understanding as she watched her body relax, now she just looked somber and troubled. She had heard them last night; she wasn't really expecting them to get together, although it was never out of the realm of possibilities. She was going to say they were both young, but they're not. Then she started thinking about how strange it would be to still have such a young body with the wisdom of someone so much older. She hadn't talked to Logan much but she knew he was searching for answers to his past. But like all of them they were looking for someone that was like them, someone who could understand.

"Where is your son now?" Raven asked breaking the silence that descended in the room.. "If you don't mind me asking"

Moira looked towards the floor, she didn't even know if she should be telling her this. "When Kevin's mutation manifested, he couldn't control it. His ability allowed him to warp reality and take possession of other people's bodies. He became violent …and I couldn't let him hurt himself or anyone else." Moira told her. "He's at a facility I have, where I'm trying to figure out a way he can live with is mutation."

Raven listened quietly as Moira told her about her son. Looking at him was always the hardest. So she tried to avoid him, but he came to her not knowing who she really was. "When their born you see this life for them, then it always turns out completely different then you imagined"

Moira looked at Raven with the realization dawning on her. "You have children?"

Raven turned to look at her. "I have two…boys" she replied then added. "They don't know me" It was way too late to be regretting her decision now. It was better this way, especially for Kurt, no child should have the memory of what happened that night.

Moira was shocked, Raven was a mother. "Does Charles know?"

"About one of them yes, the other I don't know" Raven sighed and closed her eyes. She then walked past Moira into the kitchen. Moira followed and went to pour grounds into the coffee maker.

Raven sat down at the island and eyed the closed laptop next to her. "Can I use your computer?" she asked. She had an idea but she needed to check something out first.

"Sure" Moira told her as she leaned against the counter to wait for the coffee to be done. It had been a long few days with flying from Scotland to New York and back again. Then having to relive memories of her life as a young woman.

Raven opened the laptop and started typing. "So how are we going to do this?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, do what?" Moira asked in confusion trying to think of what Raven could be referring to. To her knowledge they hadn't talked about doing anything.

"Bring Charles home" Raven told her like they'd already discussed it. Her fingers started flying over the keyboard as she talked.

"…Home?" Moira asked as she poured the coffee into two cups and handed one of them to Raven.

"Thanks" Raven replied taking a sip and placing it gently on the table next to her and went back to typing. "Yes, we're not going to leave him there."

Moira held the coffee cup in both hands. "Raven, that's not his body" she said to her looking her in the eyes. "We can't just take it"

Raven looked at her. "Why not?" she asked. She didn't see a problem with it, John Smith wasn't using his body anymore and with it Charles would be able to walk again.

"Well besides being moral and ethically wrong…." Moira told her putting her mug on the table. It hadn't even crossed her mind to have Charles just take the body.

"Well in your honest professional opinion is there a chance John Smith could wake up"

Moira sipped her coffee. "There's… always a slight possibility"

"How slight? What are the odds"

Moira sighed. "Slim, but Raven that's beside the point."

"Due to extensive and irrevocable brain damage the patient is highly unlikely ever to achieve higher functions above a vegetative state." Raven said to her. Moira's eyes widen in shock. "And that's right here in his file, written by you." Raven told her turning the computer around to show her.

Moira leaned in closer to look at the screen. "How?..." She asked, and then sighed. "You hacked into the hospital's network. Those are confide…" she just stopped talking not bothering to finish her sentence. Raven knew all that already and didn't care.

Raven went back to typing. "Since they don't know who he is or where he came from. You can say through some research you found his sister in America." she said as the plan started forming in her mind. "I'll say he always went on retreats like this and we were used to not hearing from him for years. So that's why we had no idea he was here. But now that we know I want to take him home to New York"

"And how will you be transporting a comatose patient?

"A plane, I can fly anything. I'll say one of my clients lent me their air ambulance charter plane"

"How do you know Charles will even agree to this?"

"Ask him then" Raved suggested. She had already planned out what they were going to do. However she needed Charles to help her accomplish it.

Moira closed her eyes and sighed. Charles belonged back home leading his team and helping other mutants control their abilities. But she didn't know if she could allow this. That man whoever he was didn't agree to this. And she also knew that know had come to claim him and the chances of him waking up with cognitive function was slim to none. "I'll talk to him" she told Raven as went to take a shower and get ready for work.

Tbc...


	8. Following the Leader

**Family Matters**

Summary: A powerless Raven returns to only place she's ever called home. Where she finds out that she's not as alone as she thinks. Charles may still be alive.

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><p>"Other things may change us, but we start and end with family" - Anthonay Brandt<p>

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><p>Ch 8 Following the Leader<p>

She knew he had been standing there for some time, listening. She hoped he would be the reserved indifferent man she knew him to be and not want to talk about it. She had made many difficult decisions in her life, giving up her boys was two of them. She didn't think she was capable of has much love she felt when Kurt was in her arms smiling up at her. But she knew it couldn't last, she wasn't meant for that life. The only thing she could do was make a better life for him. Her other son she gave up for adoption right after he was born, figuring it would be easier for him since he didn't share the cosmetic problem of his half-brother and herself.

From afar she watched them struggle and triumph, she watched thems grow into young men. She could deny as much as she wanted, she was a mother. And she was trying to make this world safer for them. They should be able to be mutant and proud.

She steeled herself and turned to face him. "For once its better that you were listening, because now you know we have a lot of work to do to get this done"

"The professor hasn't even agreed to it" Logan told her.

"He will" she replied with a smile.

Logan looked at Raven's unwavering confidence and sighed. That was always the problem; their two biggest adversaries were the two people that knew the Professor better than the people that fought by his side.

They both turned their heads when they heard a knock at the door. "Was she expecting someone?" Raven asked looking at Wolverine who just looked back at her. He walked over to the door and opened it to find a lanky casually dressed man grinning at him.

"Well Moira definitely explained your scowl correctly." The man said still smiling.

"Banshee?" Raven said looking at the man standing in the doorway. His ginger hair was starting to gray but he still had that same cocky grin and sarcastic humor that he had when he was younger.

He turned his head towards the sound of her voice. "Raven" he said his smile widening. "I didn't believe her when she said you were here. So I had to see it for myself" Mystique was the last person he ever expected Moira to have has a house guest, but here she was looking not a day older than the last time he saw her in the late eighties. Moira told him she lost her powers but had retained her youth. Which made Moira think that her powers were not truly gone just suppressed.

"Moira sent you" Raven said more than asked.

"Yes, I…work with her" he answered in his Irish brogue.

Raven eyed him; the tone in his voice was suggesting that he and Moira were more than co-workers. Then again that was none of her business.

"You know him?" Wolverine interrupted them suddenly. He sized up the Irishman as he did anyone he came in contact with. He was lanky but fit, his eyes showed a man that has suffered losses and found the strength to keep going. This man didn't look like much, but Wolverine could smell the warrior in him.

"This is Sean Cassidy also known as Banshee. He was part of the original team" Raven told him. Even after the things she'd done, she still thought of those times fondly.

"Banshee" Wolverine said with a raised brow.

"You have sensitive ears, Logan. You wouldn't want him to show what he can do" Raven said with a smile. "She sent you here to watch me" she said turning her attention back to Banshee. "She doesn't trust me"

"Would you?"" he asked with a small smirk.

Raven shook her head and smiled. "No"

He was happy to see her again despite everything that happened. They trained together, fought together, saved the world together and then they were fighting against each other. Looking at her now he could still see the young candid girl that was once excited to play secret agent. The Professor may have found them but she was the one that brought them together gave them an identity, a name they'd carry for the rest of their lives. None of them had ever had the freedom to just be who they really were, to show their abilities without judgment or fear. She turned them from outcasts to a team. She probably didn't even know the impression she made on them.

"Well I'm glad you're here because now you can help us" She said to him.

"Help? With what?" Sean asked a little worried.

Moira MacTaggert sat in the driveway with her hands still on the wheel. Her eyes were closed as she breathed deeply. She couldn't believe she was doing this. She was a scientist and she'd done many things in the name of science, but this…this was something else entirely. And the sad thing was she didn't feel as guilty as she thought she would. The world needed Charles Xavier.

Moira walked into her house and saw a woman with shoulder length auburn hair lounging on her couch wearing a lavender cashmere sweater and jeans that fit snugly around her hips. Her dark brown eyes stared into hers. It took a second for her to piece it together, without her abilities Raven still managed to transform herself into someone else. Even the way she carried herself was different from the woman she left this morning.

Moira glanced at her table and saw it covered with passports and other documents. She should have figured that Raven would not have waited for Charles' answer or she already knew what it would be. She looked up when someone entered the room.

Sean walked in with three beers, he handed one to Raven and put the other one on the table and sat down next to her. Moira looked at him with a look that said you were supposed to watch her not help her. He just looked at her and shrugged. Wolverine came in next and sat down in the arm chair and opened up his beer.

"I've arranged for the ambulance plane to be on the runway at 1300" Raven told her now that they were all here.

"Tomorrow?" Moira asked surprised. She didn't realize they would be doing this so quickly.

"The sooner he's back home where he belongs the better it is for everyone"

She agreed with that, but it was still so sudden. "Don't we need to prepare? If I've been trying to find you…"

"Already taken care of, if anyone checks your computer your history shows you finding me and contacting me through emails."

Moira stared at the young woman "You hacked into my computer" she said with a sigh "And that will hold?"

"That's what I love about this decade; everything is entered into the computer if you want a paper trail you have to go digging for it and no ones that eager to be doing that. And Charles can take care of anyone asking too many questions"

"I don't know what to say" Moira said staring at her. When she was younger all Raven cared about was cute boys and dancing. Then she went off with Eric and became something else and she could see why she was Magneto's second in command. Moira now wondered how it would've been if she had been on their side. How long would it last was a now question that was in her mind. Charles had probably gathered that thought but chose not to say anything not wanting to think about that possibility. This Raven was not the young girl he knew, not anymore.

* * *

><p>He sat in the dingy motel room table staring at a quarter willing it to move and just like the chess piece all he could do was shake it. He got angry and pounded the table. With his hand on the coin he flung it across the room. He would kill them for doing this to him, once he got his powers back they would all die.<p>

He rubbed his hand along his face and through his beard, since he barely went anywhere there was no need to shave. He found himself talking to her, asking her questions. That's what he was used, her always being there. The one person he could count on, the only person he trusted. At that moment the mission was at the forefront of his mind. Anything or anyone that got in the way was disposed of. Without her powers she was useless to him. He was so close to making his dream a reality, that nothing would stop him. Mankind would learn their place and the stronger superior race would rein supreme. And she was now one of them. So he left without looking back.

It wasn't until he lost own powers when he remembered what happened. She was his confidante, his comrade, his lover, his only true friend. He was angry when she turned on him but what else would he expect from her, Mystique was a survivor.

Sitting here alone in this motel room surrounded by the filth that is humanity, he missed her. He missed her bravado, her sly smirks, her strategic brain, her blue skin, her smile and most of all the way she'd make him feel younger than his years. He had aged and she didn't, but when they lay in bed together she didn't look at him like he was old man, she saw the same Eric he had been when they first met.

Without his powers and without her he felt ancient and miserable. He hated that feeling. He took a deep breath looked at the coin at the other side of the room and held his hand out in front of him.

Tbc..


	9. Finding Your Way

**Family Matters**

Summary: A powerless Raven returns to only place she's ever called home. Where she finds out that she's not as alone as she thinks. Charles may still be alive.

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><p>"Other things may change us, but we start and end with family" - Anthony Brandt<p>

* * *

><p>Ch 9 Finding Your Way<p>

The next morning she walked with Raven down the hallway to meet with her boss and the board to get them to agree to let John Smith's sister take her brother home. She looked over the pictures and documents Raven had forged. She had to admit they would've fooled her had she not known they were fake. How she managed to procure a plane was also beyond her. When she read the name she chooses for him she heard Charles' laughter in her head. It was a name that meant something to both of them.

"Miss Dodgson, please have a seat" her boss Dr. Bryce Kerr said when they entered the conference room.

"I understand you want to remove John Smith…I apologize …Charles Dodgson from our care" Dr. Kerr said after Raven and her sat down.

"Yes" Raven replied. "He belongs at home surrounded by family. You can speak to Dr. MacTaggert. I have arranged for round the clock care for him" Earlier in a meeting with Dr. Kerr, she told him that her brother often went off exploring the world trying to be one with nature. He would live off the wilderness with nothing but an ax. So she was used to not hearing from him for long periods of time. It was few months ago that she started to worry. She had started looking for places he could've gone. It was godsend that Dr. MacTaggert called her when she did.

Moira guessed she shouldn't have been that surprised to hear Raven talk so heartfelt about her brother. There was truth in her lies.

Raven sat there patiently while the board reviewed their request. The Raven she knew liked action better than idleness. The fact that she was sitting here calmly showed how important this was to her. Charles lost the use of his legs; however what affected him the most was losing her. She knew why he wanted to be reunited with her. Moira looked over at the younger woman who in reality was around the same age as her. She looked sincere, but they all knew what she capable of and she wondered how clearly Charles was thinking in regards to her.

In the end they agreed with some pushing from Charles. The ambulance drove them to the private airstrip where Raven's plane was waiting. The paramedics and ambulance technician rolled Charles' gurney across the pavement to the plane where Raven had her own extremely fit paramedic and a red haired doctor waiting for them. Once on the air ambulance they lifted Charles onto the bed, while Moira pretended to be conversing with Sean dressed up as a doctor.

Her boss agreed even more when Moira said she'd be accompanying them to New York to see that the patient was indeed in good hands. She waved to the ambulance team and closed the door of the airplane. She then went to sit next to Charles.

They buckled their seatbelts as Raven prepared the plane for takeoff. They heard the revving of the engine and the plane began to move forward picking up speed. They fell back into their seats as the plane ascended.

When the plane steadied Charles unbuckled himself from the bed. He was still wearing his hospital gown so Moira had brought some clothes for him to change into. After changing he went up to the cockpit and knocked on the door and opened it.

"I didn't want to startle you" he said walking over the chair.

"I'm not easily startled" she replied with a smile.

Charles Xavier looked out at the window at the endless blue sky. He was going home and Raven was by his side once again. He often dreamed about that for years after she left with Eric. He'd sit in her room whenever he needed to think. Raven never let his ego get the best of him, she'd tease him and mock him and always told him the truth, she humbled him. Being in her room with her phantom presence cleared his mind and gave him perspective. He needed to be reminded of his failures in order to make the right decisions.

He wasn't reading her mind, but he could feel her sadness and her fear. "You are still you, Raven" he started. "Mutation happens at a cellular level and Jimmy's mutation allows him to suppress abilities not eradicate them. The serum they made isn't a cure, mutation is not a disease. Your powers are not gone, they are hidden."

"And how do I get them to resurface?" Raven asked her brother.

"We will find a way, I promise you" he told her.

He felt the relief wash over her body, but there was still something else that was bothering her or rather thinking about someone else was. The moment he saw him he saw her eyes looking back at him. "Have you seen him?"

Raven sucked in her breath from that question. She knew, he knew about him it would've been impossible for him not too. "I have" she replied softly.

Things would've been different had she gotten pregnant while she was still on his side. He would've been there and been a proud and loving uncle and they would've been a family. He would've raised him had he known about him. "I almost ran to you when I found out" she told him. She kept her eyes straight ahead but she knew he was looking at her. "But I was afraid, you'd be ashamed of me, judge me and I couldn't bear to see that. Maybe it was the hormones that elevated those fears. But I couldn't go to you."

He closed his eyes. He had a young man's body but he still felt so old. His past mistakes would forever haunt him, especially those he made with her. He never wanted her to be afraid to come to him. He often imagined what it would've been like to have Raven's children running around the mansion, playing outside like they had once done, tearing open presents under a gigantic Christmas tree and just filling the house with the laughter of children. But none of that happened because he pushed her away.

Raven glanced over at him and saw the affect it was having. "You can't blame yourself for the choices I've made" she told him. Charles smiled softly at her; it was almost like she could read his mind.

She didn't want that, she got him back, they were going home. "He doesn't know me"

That much he knew. He tried to get into to Kurt's mind but his memories were blocked. She had used a telepath.

"I would've been a terrible mother" she told him keeping her eyes on the sky.

"I don't believe that" he told her, from what he could gather Kurt was five years old when he was found outside the tent of a circus in Munich known to have mutants in their mists. It was the years before that he couldn't reach.

She could still feel the agonizing heartache as she carried his small sleeping form into the circus. She remembered how she had to keep telling herself this was better for him. She couldn't turn back now; she'd already wiped his memory of her. He would be safe there; they would look after him, like they looked after her. She told her she would raise him as her own.

Emma offered to take her pain away, she refused. She needed her pain to give her strength to do what was necessary.

Charles looked over and saw Raven's eyes glistening with tears. He reached out and gently touched her shoulder. "That's what is wonderful about all this. We all have a second chance to be a family."

They spent the rest of the flight in silence just enjoying having the other there. Charles moved his legs around reveling in the feel of the younger man's muscles. They were weak having been bed ridden but they were moved around so they wouldn't atrophy. But he could feel them and move them control them. He hadn't been able to walk since he was much younger man then this.

Out of the corner of her eyes she could see him crossing and uncrossing his legs and she smiled. She was happy he could walk again even if it was with a different body. It would take some getting used too but she just happy he was alive. Even when she was working against him, knowing he was there was enough. He gave her strength to continue her mission. She was doing everything for all of them. They should all be able to walk freely and openly. His mutation was invisible but he still hid who he was and what he could do from most the world.

She looked at her older brother and he looked at her with such hope, without reading her mind he wouldn't understand what had happened to her. He didn't know that she was happy with her short time with Kurt; they were a family, they had a family that took care of one another. Then that was horrifically ripped away from her. She still woke up with nightmares of so much screaming and pain and her little boy covered in blood. So many others died that day because of what they were, including her husband. That's when she knew that the human race would never accept them.

And she didn't want them too; the superior species always wins out in the end.

She started the plane's descent; Moira had popped her head in a little earlier telling them she let Beast know about their arrival. She didn't tell him about Charles yet, she figured it would be easier to tell everyone at once.

The mansion came into view and Raven smiled, she did miss her home. Her home that was now filled with a bunch of strangers but it would always be her home. Raven watched as the ground opened up in front of her revealing an underground runway. She leveled the plane and easily flew it inside the tunnel.

Tbc…


	10. Of Wonders Wild and New

**Family Matters**

Summary: A powerless Raven returns to only place she's ever called home. Where she finds out that she's not as alone as she thinks. Charles may still be alive.

* * *

><p>"Other things may change us, but we start and end with family" - Anthonay Brandt<p>

* * *

><p>Ch 10 Of Wonders Wild and New<p>

When the plane came to a stop Moira unbuckled her seatbelt and got up. Sean and Logan followed behind her as she opened the door. She saw Hank as he pushed the stairs up against the door. Storm was standing in the hanger with arms across her chest and Nightcrawler was standing in the corner. She hadn't explained much to them so they were all confused as to what was going on. She smiled at Beast as she walked down the stairs.

"Is someone injured?" Storm asked eyeing the plane they arrived in.

"No, this was for me. I apologize for the secrecy, Ororo" Storm's heart beat sped up as she heard his voice, but then looked up in confusion to see a man she didn't recognize standing at the top of the stairs next to Mystique.

Beast stood next to Moira trying to piece everything together. "Professor?" he asked hesitantly. There was only one thing he knew for sure, that was the professor's voice, but that man that stood there looked to be about mid-forties with messy auburn hair and a full beard.

"I don't understand" Storm said studying the man that spoke with the professor's voice. "What's going on?"

"Again I apologize" Charles said to them. He went to take the first step and his legs shook beneath him and he reached for the railing and Raven held on to him before he fell. "These legs still need to regain their strength" Raven nodded and placed her arm around his back and her other one held onto his arm as they slowly made their way down the stairs.

He felt Raven jump a little when Nightcrawler flashed out of the hanger. He squeezed her arm comfortingly, and then looked at Hank and Ororo. "I will explain everything, but I prefer to only have to say it once, even though I know that won't be possible" he told them when they got down the stairs. "Can you and Hank, gather everyone in the common room?"

"Of course" Hank replied. Storm looked at him then nodded.

Raven and him started walking when they heard a flash and Nightcrawler appeared in front of them. He held out a nicely polished cane with a silver handle. Charles smiled at him, it was grandfather's cane. He gently took it from him. "Thank you"

"I was exploring and I found eet" he began then looked down ashamed. "I am sorry, I should not have done that"

"Kurt, it's okay. This is your house" Charles told him and he meant that more than the boy would ever know. He looked at Raven who was doing her best to avoid eye contact with her son. He sighed. "Shall we" he said to them after a short pause. Then the three of them walked together to the common room.

The students were all talking loudly and excitedly not knowing what was going on. They were just told to set up chairs in the row and that they had someone that wanted to speak to all to them.

Raven stood next to Charles in front of the room. She watched the students as they continued to settle into their seats. Then her heart beat faster when she heard a voice, a voice she hadn't heard in a long time and never expected to hear it here. She looked up and saw her follow in behind a group of kids.

Her hair now matched the only color outfits she wore, but she was unmistakable. _Emma Frost._ _What was she doing here? Why was she here?_ Were the questions Raven asked herself. They had never been friends or even acquaintances, they could barley work together as a team, yet they had trusted each other with a secret meant to be taken to the grave. She had kept Emma's secret and Emma had kept hers.

Raven watched Storm walk over to her and heard Emma tell her that she had found the last of the stragglers. _Did she work here?_ Raven thought as their eyes met. She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth as Emma's voice invaded her mind. "Hello, Raven"

Raven opened her eyes and locked her eyes onto the older woman's daring her to continue talking inside her head, but Emma just smiled at her.

Her brother stood in front of the room, the students were still chatting away having no idea who he was. He stood tall and tapped his cane on the hard wood floor.

"Hello, students, friends and family" he said turning his head to the side to look at her and smiled. "I have missed all of you immensely while I was gone."

The older students that had been there the longest came to attention as they heard the professor's voice, the other students looked around in confusion. Bobby, Kitty and Marie all stared at the man with the professor's voice. She saw them look to her and Logan for answers. Raven averted her eyes; this was Charles' to explain.

"I know I look different when you last saw me" he began as the room became still and silent. "This man standing before you is called Robert McCray. He was in a terrible accident one that he would never recover from. We had a soul bearing, soul searching conversation when I joined my mind with his." Moira perked up at that, she hadn't known that Charles had talked to the patient. He didn't tell her that.

"He was a great man, an honorable man that allowed me the use of his body to house my mind. So in turn I will honor him by making the most of this second chance I've been given." He paused to collect his thoughts. "There are so many lost souls out there looking for help and guidance both mutant and human. And hatred from either side accomplishes nothing but pain and destruction. I know that evolution is inevitable, it's happened ever since the very first cell split and created us. Made us different than what came before. The first hominoid species to stand up right, the first to grab on to a stick and use it as a tool, the first to make fire, the first to lose the hair that covered their body, the first homo sapiens to the first modern human. Those changes did make us different. However the same atoms and cells created us, we all breathe the same air, walk on the same ground, we all have the same basic needs and wants. We are all sharing this world. So we should share it as one. There is so much we don't understand, so much we can learn from each other and I know achieving peace is not an easy task and I know some of you may not believe it's possible. The only thing we can do is try which is what I plan on doing." he paused to let that sink in.

"We will show them we are not to be feared and that we don't fear them. I have opened my home to all of you, so you have a place to feel safe, feel accepted. But this is not a place for you to hide; we cannot be ashamed to be different. We should be as we are, Mutant…and proud!"

The students clapped and cheered, invigorated from his speech and the fact that the Professor was back to help them. Raven still didn't think he could accomplish peace with the humans, but her heart couldn't help but swell up with pride with her brother's final words.

She managed to slip out of the room when the students gathered around the Professor to bombard him questions. Moira, Hank, Sean and everyone else were around, so he didn't really need her and she wasn't really the type to stand around answering questions. She did her part by bringing him home. And she was also pretty sure she wasn't liked but any of them anyway.

She walked through the silent mansion that used to be her home. She could almost see her and Charles running around the place when they were younger playing hide and go seek which was not an easy game to play when you were a shape shifter and a mind reader. As she thought about it, Charles was young again and if he kept himself healthy and didn't put himself in a lot of danger they could have another forty or fifty years together. This really was a second chance for both of them.

Raven stopped walking and in one quick movement spun, pushed her into the wall hard. "My martial arts training was never part of my mutation" She said to the older woman as she pressed her arm into her throat.

Emma smiled at her turned herself into diamond and threw Raven into the wall across from them. Raven regained her composure and ran for her again until a sudden sharp pain filled her head brining her down to her knees. She gritted her teeth as she held the sides of her head with her hands.

"I don't want to fight you Raven" Emma said to her turning back to her normal state. "Yes, I know I'd lose" Emma said reading her mind and rolling her eyes. "You are trained and still much younger than I am" She said the last part with a little jealousy in her voice.

The pain slowly subsided and Raven looked up at her. She was still feeling the effects of her other head injury so it was taking much longer for her to recover. She hated being so weak, but most of all she hated showing weakness in front of her. Emma just smiled at her making her rage that much greater.

"You and I are too much alike, that's why we never got along. Don't talk back Raven, you know it's true" Emma said to her before Raven could respond again. "We are both strong minded women that like to be in control. However like the Professor said, its evolution, we will follow the best path to survival."

"Is that why you're here?" Raven asked using the wall to brace herself as she slowly stood up.

"Magneto lost his way. He became obsessed and look what happened to him…and to you. I think I made the right choice." she told her. "Why are you back, Raven?" she asked with a smirk. "I know family is important to you Raven. And the reason why you and Eric could never take care of the professor, that would have made things a lot easier for the Brotherhood" Emma kept her eyes locked onto hers. "You've kept my secret for all these years from Eric and the Brotherhood. But this is a different era, people are slightly more open than they were before, well to a certain extent." she said. She had no reason to keep Mystique's secret and she knew technically she was on the "good" side now, she wouldn't hate it to see Mystique uncomfortable. Since she always managed to walk back anywhere into open arms. She disappeared without any warning for six years and Magneto took her back as his second without any questions. And pushed her aside like she hadn't helped his movement at all in time Mystique was gone. She went back to being nothing to him.

_Was she threatening to tell Kurt?_ _Is that what she was getting at with this family talk?_ She couldn't see it before, but now she could. Their personalities could not be more different, but the resemblance was there. She watched the emotions run over Emma's face; she wanted her to read her mind, to see what she was thinking about. She had kept many things from the mind reader because Emma didn't think she was worth reading when they knew each other.

Emma's eyes widened in shock as the memories filled her mind. "You know my sister? Do you know where she is?" Emma asked not bothering to hide the desperation in her voice. She tried push further but Mystique grew up with a mind reader she knew how to deflect her thoughts to something else, her favorite was her many sex exploits. Watching Raven have sex with a multitude of different people, including her imagining them together was not what she wanted to see right now. She could even feel Raven smiling knowing she had enjoyed it sometimes. She was the mind reader yet Raven had a way of getting into her mind the way no one else could.

Now it was Raven's turn to smirk. "I keep my promises when I mean them. And I like Cordelia better than I like you. And you know better than most that I don't appreciate threats. If we can keep it civil and you stay out of my mind, maybe we can work out a new deal"

Emma looked away from her and sucked in her breath. "Fine"

"Raven" Charles said walking towards them. "Is everything alright?" He was talking to the students when he felt an overwhelming tension coming from this part of the mansion. It had subsided after a few moments but when he had the chance he went to check it out and saw Raven and Emma standing face to face.

"Everything's fine" Raven replied with a smile at her brother. "Do you want to go for a walk? I want to go for a walk and it's probably good for your legs to get the exercise."

Charles was still wary, he knew the two women had worked together with Magneto years ago and he could tell there was something they were both hiding. He would have to keep checking on them. Raven was his sister and Emma had helped out greatly since he was gone. With Jean gone as well only she could use Cerebro to find more mutants that needed help. He looked towards Emma who sighed and turned and walked away in the opposite direction. He turned to Raven who smiled and slipped her arm through his and led him down the hallway.

Tbc…


	11. Speak Gently

**Family Matters**

Summary: A powerless Raven returns to only place she's ever called home. Where she finds out that she's not as alone as she thinks. Charles may still be alive.

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><p>"Other things may change us, but we start and end with family" - Anthonay Brandt<p>

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><p><strong>Ch 11 - Speak Gently<strong>

She slid out of the bed and got dressed as quietly as she could, which to him still probably sounded like avalanche. "Where are you going?" Logan asked her sleepily.

"I'm hungry; I'm going to make something to eat. Do you want anything?" she asked. He shook his head, rolled back over and went to sleep.

The kitchen looked completely different then when she lived here. He had opened it up even more and there was a long cafeteria like table in the middle. She looked inside the industrial size refrigerator. The fridge was stocked full of food she didn't know what she was in the mood for. She pulled out an onion, some tomatoes and chilies, butter and a couple of eggs.

She was frying the eggs when she heard a familiar popping sound. She turned around to see him standing the middle of the kitchen. "Couldn't sleep" she told him to explain why she was there.

"I could not eizer" he replied eyeing the food she was making.

"Do you want some?" she asked. "I have enough" Kurt nodded and sat down. She turned back towards the food she was preparing and closed her eyes. When they lived with the circus they didn't have a lot of food so she had to be creative with what they had. They had a couple of chickens, so they had plenty of eggs. She had gotten really good making egg dishes. What she had made was one of his favorites...not that he'd remember it.

She arranged the ingredients on the tortilla, she knew just the right amount of spice he'd like on it and placed the plate in front of him. She did the same to hers and sat down across from him. She watched him take the first bite just to see his reaction. "Siz is verdy good" he told her in his thick German accent. She nodded and smiled at him as he ate. When he was little she loved watching him eat. He enjoyed whatever she gave him. It was times like that where she thought she could do this, be a mother, a wife. Performing with a circus wasn't really where she saw herself but it really helped with her agility training and Kurt loved it. He loved the cheering and applause from the humans that thought they were just in costumes. He had no idea about the dangers that were out there for him, just because of what he looked like.

"Are you not hungry?" he asked. She looked down and realized she hadn't touched her own food. So she picked up her tortilla and took a bite.

"Et was verdy good, zank you" he said to her as he washed his dish and cleaned everything else up, then he looked at her.

"I'm still working on mine. I'll clean up when I'm done" she told him.

He nodded. "Good night, Mystique" he said.

"Good night…" she replied back unable to call him by his name, either one of them. She exhaled deeply when he left. "Do you want what's left, I'm not going to finish it" She called out. Charles made his way into the kitchen. He was moving around a little better but he still needed the cane. "You're not in the chair anymore, your shadow is much larger now" she told him with a smile and pushed her plate over to him as he sat down.

Charles finished her leftovers and pushed the plate in so he could lean his hands on the table. He looked into Raven's blue eyes. "I think you should tell him" Raven's face froze as she stared at her brother. "He should know who you are"

"Why?" Raven asked.

"Because a child should know his parent"

"I don't want to know who mine are" She told him flatly. It's not like she never thought about them. In the orphanage she thought about them all the time. They left her on the side of the road, so she knew from that what kind of people they were. So she had no desire to meet them.

"That's a different situation, Raven. He should know that you gave him up to protect him. He should know that. We all know what it's like to not be wanted. It's our true family that accepts us."

"I don't know him" she replied and leaned back in her chair not wanting to look him in the eyes, knowing what she will see in them.

Charles saw Raven avoiding his eye contact, so he continued anyway. "I see the way you look at him. You to want to know him and I'm sure he will want to know you"

She turned her head away from him. That's one thing she didn't miss, his lectures. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She wasn't sure what she was going to do. She hadn't been a mother in a very long time. Plus he was a grown man; he didn't really need her anymore. She sat there not saying anything and Charles having said what he wanted did the same.

Suddenly a loud piercing scream filled the air.

Raven bolted upright with adrenaline already pumping through her body. Charles struggled to get up and nodded to Raven to go.

She took off running towards the direction the sound came from. She knew where it was now and burst into the room. She quickly scanned the situation. Logan lay prone on the bed with purplish veins showing through his skin, she looked to the side where Rogue smashed herself against the wall shaking.

Mystique tried to hide her smile. Rogue's powers came back completely by the looks of it. She took the "cure" much earlier than she had. She figured out pretty quickly what happened since Rogue was dressed in sheer black lingerie, her hair nicely curled and lots of makeup. She didn't have much to worry about Logan would be fine.

She shut the door when she heard the sound of footfalls running towards them. She ran to the dresser and pulled out her shirt and a pair of sweats and told Rogue to put them on. The girl looked at her confused. She was still shaking from fear but managed to take the clothes from her hands and slip the on.

Someone knocked on the door. Raven brought her finger to her lip and told Rogue to be quiet. She opened the door a crack and peered through it. "Hank?" she said feigning confusion. "Is something wrong?" she asked as she looked out and saw Storm, Bobby and Kitty.

"We heard screaming coming from here. Is everything alright?" he asked her with concern.

"Everything's fine" she replied. "I'm really sorry, I'm a bit of screamer" she told him with a sly smile. She watched him swallow as that sank into his mind. He closed his eyes and tried to regain his composure.

"Okay" he managed to croak out. "Just try to keep it down, we do have children here" he told her almost scolding her now.

"I'm sorry, I'll try" she told him still smiling. He nodded and left and the others followed. She shut the door and locked it, then turned to face the young girl.

"I didn't know…I didn't…" Rogue croaked out as she backed into the wall.

Raven looked at Logan lying prone on the bed. "He'll be fine, he's been through worse"

"It was supposed to be a cure, why is this happening?" she said as she looked at her hands and tears streamed down her face.

"There is no cure, what you are, what you can do it's in embedded in your coding, someone just put a wall in front of it."

Marie looked at the older woman, and then looked around the room and it dawned on her. These were Raven's clothes that she got from a drawer in Logan's room. Of course, why wouldn't he go for her, she was the woman, with her perfect body and perfect breasts. Even without her powers she was the male fantasy. "Why did you lie for me?"

"Because I know what's it like to be young." She told her. "I know what it's like to want someone"

"You're not mad?" Marie asked her. "You stuff is in here, you're here"

Raven walked over to and sat down next to her. Marie was startled and moved over when she saw how close Raven got to her. "I know what I'm doing; I know what you can do. I have proof right in front me." Raven told her with a confident smile. "And no, I'm not mad, when you've been around as long as I have; you find jealously a little tiring." Raven told her. It finally dawned on her that if Mystique was the Professor's sister she had to be nearly as old as he is. She just didn't look it. "People will do what they want" Raven finished.

Rouge nodded, not really caring about that anymore. "I hate this, what I am, what I can do. The professor talks about us being evolved, but what evolutionary gain is my ability?"

Raven looked at the young girl. "You can do so much more than I can. I take on people's appearances; you can take on their abilities. You can do anything just by touching them; you can fly, read minds, and walk through walls…"

"Not without almost killing them" Rouge told her stoically. "You don't know what it's like to not be able to touch anyone…be with…anyone. You don't know what it's like to be me"

"And you don't know what it's like to me" Raven responded. "My ability didn't manifest when I hit a certain age. I was born with blue skin and yellow eyes. A demon, a monster were some of the kinder names I've heard. My parents just threw me away, like I was garbage. If a solider didn't find me on the side of the road and took me to an orphanage, I would've died. Before I learned that I could change my appearance I was locked in storage room in the basement of the orphanage and few times a couple of nuns thought I was an abomination and they…could beat the demon out of me. I was three years old" Rouge looked at her with sorrow in her eyes. "So you see" Raven said trying again to forget those times. "It hasn't been easy for any of us." Then she sighed. "We all have to learn to control our powers, so I believe there is a way to control yours. Maybe not forever, but so you can touch… someone"

"You really think so?" Marie asked.

"I do. We'll help you. Isn't that what this whole school is for?" Raven said to her.

She didn't know why but she felt some kind of connection to this lost, lonely girl. She supposed she reminded her of herself when she was younger. Someone that retreated into themselves, her because she had no choice, but mostly because they thought they were alone. She was like that until she found Charles and he showed her she wasn't alone and would never be alone.

Tbc…


End file.
